Derik ( ku, Dêrika Çiyayê Mazî) is a town in the

Derik District Derik District is a district of Mardin Province in Turkey which has the town of Derik as its seat. The district had a population of 62,203 in 2021. Creation According to the 2012 Metropolitan Municipalities Law (Law No. 6360), all Turkish pr ...

Mardin Province Mardin Province ( tr, Mardin ili; ku, Parêzgeha Mêrdînê; ar, محافظة ماردين) is a province of Turkey with a population of 809,719 in 2017, slightly down from the population of 835,173 in 2000. Kurds form the majority of the popu ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. The town had a population of 18,942 in 2021.

Government

In the local elections of April 10 Mülkiye Esmez from the Peoples' Democratic Party was elected mayor. But on 15 November 2019 she was detained and a day later dismissed from her post as mayor and the District Governor Hakan Kafkas was appointed as trustee instead.

History

The town is first mentioned in the late 14th century, however a Roman fort indicates that the area has been inhabited for longer. Prior to the

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyri ...

and

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

, Assyrians and Armenians formed the majority in the district. The Armenian population of the county continued to form the majority even up until the 1930s, when systematic state persecution forced many to emigrate. One family continues to live here, and they maintain the old Armenian Church. The Armenian Apostolic Church in Derik is only one out of six in Anatolian Turkey that operates as a church.

Geography

Geographically the town includes areas from Mazıdağı foot descending towards

Ceylanpınar Ceylanpınar ( ku, Serêkaniyê, ar, رأس العين Ra's al 'Ayn, ota, رأس العين ''Resülayn'') is a district of Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey. On the border with Syria, it is reached by a long straight road across t ...

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

s. Town area descends from the north to the south. The city center is surrounded by mountains from 3 sides and has a

temperate climate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

with some

mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

effects.

Notable Native

Qedrîcan Qedrîcan or Qedrîcan, Abdulkadir Can (1911–1972) was a Kurdish poet, writer and translator. He was born in Derik, a small town (present-day Mardin Province, south-eastern Turkey). At a time when schooling was the subject of jokes and when f ...

(1911-1972), Kurdish poet, writer and translator *

Bülent Tekin Bülent Tekin (born 15 February 1954), Kurdish poet and writer, Turkish citizen. In the 1970s he wrote two novels (“Son” and “Money”), a collection of “Social Poems”, and a research document on the socialism in Allende's Chile, all f ...

(*1952), Kurdish poet and writer *

Enwer Karahan Enwer Karahan (born 1962) is a contemporary Kurdish writer. He was born in the district of Dêrik in Mardin province in southeastern Turkey. He was one of the founding members of HADEP in 1994. His articles have appeared in several magazines suc ...

(*1962), Kurdish writer *

Leyla Birlik Leyla Birlik (born 3 March 1974, Derik, Mardin) is a Kurdish politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and a former member of the Gran National Assembly of Turkey. She is currently a member of the executive council and the head of the ...

(*1972), Kurdish politician *

Civar Çetin Civar Çetin (born 1 January 1992) is a Turkish professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American foot ...

(*1992), footballer

References

External links

http://www.derik.bel.tr
Populated places in Mardin Province Assyrian communities in Turkey Kurdish settlements in Turkey {{Mardin-geo-stub